• Chef Massimo Capra talks comfort food and shares a recipe for ragu alla bolognese.
• ...or check out David Lee's take on comfort food with Chinese Medicinal Chicken Soup.
• Looking for a wine to drink during Obama's inauguration?
• Or ... maybe some Obama-inspired eats?
• Less money leads to a return to fake cheese, condensed soup, and SPAM, all on the road to obesity?
• Whey isn't just for Miss Muffet. Feed it to pigs, and you get pork like no other.

In my mind, it all started when Doc Brown introduced us to the idea that you might be able to run your car on food waste, at the very end of the original Back to the Future when he threw a banana peel and a beer can into the Mr. Fusion attachment. Ever since then, scientists have been working on ways to create fuel out of food byproducts (they may have been looking to do this before BttF came on the scene, but I'm sort of a pop culture girl, so that's my first reference).

US scientists at Syracuse University are now looking to turn whey (Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet...), the liquid substance leftover from cheesemaking, into vehicle fuel. Whey is rich in lactose (dairy sugar) and since other sugary biofuels have been successfully created from food (ethanol for instances) researches think that whey could be the next frontier.

Via The Daily Green
Photo link

Athletes, regular hard-working folks, and vegetarians who eat dairy can best benefit from the protein in whey as opposed to other forms of protein. Whey protein's amino acid makeup, branched chain amino acids (BCCAs), are metabolized directly into muscle tissue and are the first ones used when a muscle cell is taxed in exercise. These "lean muscle tissues" rely on BCCAs to begin the rapid replenishing and rebuilding of the cells.

Whey protein is also easily digested and gets into the bloodstream much more rapidly than proteins found in meats and even tofu. Tofu is great, mind you, but you'd have to eat several blocks a day to get the equivalent benefit from whey protein. This also assumes you are looking to build lean muscle mass and lose fat on especially arduous exercise program. Otherwise, any experienced vegetarian knows how to get all the protein they need. Carnivores too.

Lastly, in defense of whey, it is the abundance of the amino acid leucine in whey that makes it a no brainer addition to your program. Leucine promotes muscle protein synthesis and growth. Glutathione is also found in whey at high levels and is an anti-oxidant that plays an important role in the immune system: heavy exercise can deplete the body of Glutathione.
There is plenty of information to be found on the benefits of whey in your routine, though there are also detractors. I have found it to be very useful in strength training and weight management.

The picture shows my favorite brand, though there are plenty. You can buy it in bulk at some Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottages, etc.

A decision by the makers of Wonder Bread  to list the dairy ingredient whey on its labels far in advance of a change in its recipe has alarmed food allergy experts.

Interstate Bakeries feels it's giving the public a heads-up by listing whey in the list of ingredients, even though it expects to change the recipe by the end of the year. The allergy experts are concerned that such a move will undermine faith in labeling and could very well spur parents of children with food allergies to take dangerous chances with products. Interstate decided to add whey to the bread to improve its taste and texture.